OCR03961 - *YES* Undertale "A Brief Respite"

[Gario]

Note: This will need a proper title, if it's accepted.

Edit (07/29): A new title has been provided; it is now called "A Brief Respite".

- Gario

RebeccaETripp
Rebecca Tripp

http://www.crystalechosound.com/
ID: 48262
Game(s): Undertale
Song Title: 

Songs Remixed: Snowdin Town

Comments: This is my arrangement, but the ocarina parts were performed by David Ramos (his OC name is docjazz4)!  I had his permission to submit this.  Please credit him if this get accepted!  Here is his youtube page just in case: https://www.youtube.com/user/docjazz4
Here’s a link to the song: 

 

[MindWanderer]

A nice, mellow, conservative take on the source.  I'd say a little too conservative, with a lot of it being basically an ocarina cover with a tiny bit of flavor from bells and whatnot, but there are some extra sections thrown in, and a few more harmonies in the second half of the arrangement, that mix things up a little.  The ending is pretty lackluster.

My one significant concern is that the ocarina is mixed pretty high.  It's shrill to the point of discomfort, and when it's doubled starting at 2:20, it's quite hard to listen to.  I do have old man ears, though.

I'm not quite as happy with this as I usually am with Tripp mixes, but I think this gets the job done.  I might change my mind if others also take issue with that shrill production, though.

YES (borderline)

[Liontamer]

Nitpicks first, the opening wasn't the most promising for the first five seconds: exposed strings; thin and plunky piano. In any case, the overall textures were fine, but those fake-sounding parts were weak links that should have been touched up. I wasn't overwhelmed with shrillness on the ocarina placement and doubling like MindWanderer was, but he's still got a valid point on the mixing there, so consider tweaking that.

Regardless, the textures and overall sound quality were easily over the bar, and David's performance was strong as well. This was a good expansive take on the source with a even lovelier winter feeling than the original! Very nice.

YES

[Rexy]

I may raise some eyebrows, but I don't think the ocarina sounds that shrill after running an EQ analyzer on the track.  This instrument did pop out distinctly, but that was solely the tone and not any ambient noise that would interfere with the sound quality.  It's still more on the loud side, and I would've ideally wanted to hear it brought down a couple of decibels.  Nevertheless, David did an expressive performance, and I can let it slide.

The arrangement itself is more on the conservative side with some little detailed tweaks to background elements like the harp and some subtle bells in the background.  The swifter ocarina playing at 2:13 is a nice touch, and changing up the lead to bowed or plucked strings on occasion also adds a pleasant break in the textures.

Talking of textures, while a lot of the pitched percussion sounded nice and well balanced, I do have some nitpicks about two particular VSTs used.  Firstly, the plucked strings at 1:35 are more blatantly shrill, barely having any tone to them and feeling more robotic in their delivery.  Going over the velocities and EQ would let it have more of a body to match the violin in the background.

But having had a few piano mixposts myself, I felt my inner alarm bells go off regarding your decision to harshly sustain said instrument.  With all of these mid to mid-high parts surrounding it, there was no need to mess with the soundscape by holding the piano's sustain pedal down and made it too susceptible to unintentional dissonance.  It's surprisingly not a dealbreaker, but there is a helpful tip for the future.  By bringing the foot off the pedal for just a small fraction of a second before each chord change, you can reduce the chance of dissonance by a lot.

With everything weighed in, the arrangement is not too ground-breaking, and the production values feel underwhelming.  Still, they both went over the bar - and David's ocarina performance gave this track a significant lift as well.  Roll on winter - it'll be comforting to hear this on the front page, getting cozy in front of a warm fire.

YES

[Gario]

Very light performance, and some excellent ocarina playing in this, slight mixing snafu notwithstanding (the ocarina is not terribly loud - it's just not perfect, is all). There's some really nice orchestration throughout, with the timbres shifting throughout the textures. The quality of instruments is quite good, too, though the opening could've focused on the other instruments pointalisticly covering the theme rather than the piano part. It's an artistic choice, though, so I won't braze the track much for something like that.

Overall the quality is up to par, and it's just a lovely rendition of the source. It focuses on the high end in general throughout, but I don't think that sinks the piece at all. Lovely stuff, I love it, let's get it posted.

YES

Edited July 24, 2019 by Gario